COD: WWII Video Game Tournament At RSL Club Cancelled

The Feed

Posted on April 11, 2018
by Tiffany Herbrik

Gamers across the country would be aware of the fact that Call of Duty: WWII was released at the end of 2017. Now, a gaming tournament that was due to be held at Castle Hill RSL featuring the game has been cancelled after backlash.

Liberal MP David Elliot played a part in getting the tournament cancelled by announcing he was making a formal complaint about the event promoted by the RSL club. Mr Elliot who is a patron and past director of the club said, “I am trying not to be politically correct but widows of World War II will look at this and think there is no entertainment in WWII and question its use in a RSL club to enable people to win cash.”

The tournament was promoted with a cash prize of $300 for the last person standing winner and was due to be held Tuesday 8 May.

According to Castle Hill RSL group chief executive David O’Neil, the club had hosted eSports events in the past “without incident”. However, he accepts the fact that this particular event was, “not an appropriate one for an RSL club.”

In a statement he went on to say, “As an organisation, we support and respect our veteran community and the last thing we’d want to do is offend anyone,” and that, “as a result, we have taken the immediate step of cancelling the event and removing all advertising and promotional material surrounding it.”

The event was originally organised to encourage young people into RSL clubs, according to Video Games League owner Michael Morgan.

Mr Morgan said that, “When we organised this we didn’t think about the timing,” and that he hopes they, “haven’t offended anyone.”

The event was promoted for three weeks before Mr Elliot made his complaint.